Reinventing evidence in social inquiry : decoding facts and variables / Richard Biernacki.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Biernacki, Richard, 1956-

Series:

Cultural sociology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social sciences--Methodology.

Social sciences.

Content analysis (Communication).

Discourse analysis.

Physical Description:

199 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Summary:

Reinventing Evidence in Social Inquiry overthrows the techniques for coding evidence that pervade the modern social sciences. Natural scientists produce facts and humanists interpret meanings. But what happens when social scientists who study culture try to forge a hybrid between the two? On the surface, they classify cultural meanings to produce facts or variables. With stunning case examples, this book dismantles the facts as circular inventions with no existence outside the false rituals in which they are spun. Social investigators must reclaim their roots with more direct, testable methods for recognizing patterns in human testimony. Book jacket.

Contents:

Inside the rituals of social science

"The entire story"

"Methodological canons in my field"

"A quantifiable indicator of a fabricated meaning element"

Wary reasoning.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781137007278

1137007273

9781137007261

1137007265

OCLC:

769010885